Current Employment Statistics (CES0700000001) · Service-providing, seasonally adjusted
How many jobs are there in service-providing industries?
The number of jobs in service-providing industries was 137,421 thousand in the month ended , up 0.3% from a year earlier (preliminary).
Jobs in service-providing industries, in thousands, seasonally adjusted, each month
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to .
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .
Jobs in service-providing industries, in thousands, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to , to .
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .
Each point is one month of the series as the source publishes it, or a change worked out from those values (ours). The US recessions are shaded. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.
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Inspect and compare dates
The newest month beside the one before it and the nearest ones a year, five and ten years earlier. The last ten years are in the table under "The numbers behind the chart".
| Measure | Latest | The month before | A year earlier | Five years earlier | Ten years earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | |||||
| Jobs in service-providing industries, in thousands | 137,421 thousand | 137,410 thousand | 137,076 thousand | 127,328 thousand | 125,237 thousand |
| Change over a year | +0.3% | +0.3% | +0.6% | +4.5% | +2.1% |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
Observed .
Right now
The number of jobs in service-providing industries was 137,421 thousand in September 2026, the highest since our record begins in January 1939.
Over a year it is up 0.3% (ours). The source marks this value preliminary.
ChangeOurs
| Period | Then | Change |
|---|---|---|
| One month | 137,410 thousand in | 0.0% |
| Three months | 137,356 thousand in | 0.0% |
| Twelve months | 137,076 thousand in | +0.3% |
| Five years | 127,328 thousand in | +7.9% |
| Ten years | 125,237 thousand in | +9.7% |
In historyOurs
The number of jobs in service-providing industries of 137,421 thousand in was higher than in 1,052 of the 1,052 other months since , the same in 0 and lower in 0.
Highest since : 137,421 thousand in . Lowest since : 18,825 thousand in .
AverageOurs
Average since : 73,164.4 thousand (ours, a plain mean of the 1,053 months).
ComparedOurs
Over a year the number of jobs in service-providing industries is up 0.3%, which ranks 16 of the 35 rows of the table, where 1 is the largest change.
The table sets the number of jobs in service-providing industries beside the industries on the jobs by industry page, by the change over a year in each one's newest month.
Understanding the number of jobs in service-providing industries
Where it stands today
The number of jobs in service-providing industries was 137,421 thousand in September 2026.
What does the number of jobs in service-providing industries measure?
Service-providing industries are all those that do not make goods: trade, transportation and utilities, information, financial activities, professional and business services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, other services and government. The line is total nonfarm employment less the goods-producing industries.
Read more
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counts these jobs each month in a survey of employers, the Current Employment Statistics, and publishes them in the Employment Situation report at the start of the next month. The count is all employees on payrolls, in thousands, seasonally adjusted.
What 500metrics adds: the change over one month, three months, a year and five years, the highest and lowest value since the series begins, how the change over a year ranks among the lines of the jobs by industry page.
The numbers behind the chart
What was the number of jobs in service-providing industries in each month?The last ten years, 120 months, newest first; the chart and the file have every month since Jan 1939
| Month | Value | Change over a year |
|---|---|---|
| 137,421 thousand | +0.3% | |
| 137,410 thousand | +0.3% | |
| 137,311 thousand | +0.2% | |
| 137,356 thousand | +0.3% | |
| 137,339 thousand | +0.3% | |
| 137,279 thousand | +0.3% | |
| 137,137 thousand | +0.2% | |
| 136,956 thousand | +0.2% | |
| 137,091 thousand | +0.3% | |
| 136,976 thousand | +0.2% | |
| 136,972 thousand | +0.4% | |
| 136,956 thousand | +0.4% | |
| 137,076 thousand | +0.6% | |
| 137,011 thousand | +0.6% | |
| 137,046 thousand | +0.7% | |
| 136,959 thousand | +0.7% | |
| 136,960 thousand | +0.7% | |
| 136,930 thousand | +0.8% | |
| 136,818 thousand | +0.7% | |
| 136,750 thousand | +0.8% | |
| 136,709 thousand | +1.0% | |
| 136,725 thousand | +1.1% | |
| 136,477 thousand | +1.0% | |
| 136,364 thousand | +1.0% |
Show 96 more rows
| Month | Value | Change over a year |
|---|---|---|
| 136,278 thousand | +1.1% | |
| 136,129 thousand | +1.0% | |
| 136,112 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 136,065 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 135,983 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 135,899 thousand | +1.5% | |
| 135,830 thousand | +1.6% | |
| 135,621 thousand | +1.5% | |
| 135,401 thousand | +1.6% | |
| 135,247 thousand | +1.7% | |
| 135,120 thousand | +1.7% | |
| 135,020 thousand | +1.8% | |
| 134,851 thousand | +1.9% | |
| 134,717 thousand | +2.0% | |
| 134,523 thousand | +2.0% | |
| 134,359 thousand | +2.4% | |
| 134,179 thousand | +2.5% | |
| 133,899 thousand | +2.5% | |
| 133,686 thousand | +2.6% | |
| 133,592 thousand | +2.8% | |
| 133,307 thousand | +3.1% | |
| 132,935 thousand | +3.0% | |
| 132,859 thousand | +3.3% | |
| 132,591 thousand | +3.6% | |
| 132,287 thousand | +3.9% | |
| 132,117 thousand | +4.1% | |
| 131,866 thousand | +4.3% | |
| 131,222 thousand | +4.5% | |
| 130,851 thousand | +4.8% | |
| 130,603 thousand | +5.0% | |
| 130,360 thousand | +5.1% | |
| 129,992 thousand | +5.3% | |
| 129,269 thousand | +5.3% | |
| 129,107 thousand | +5.4% | |
| 128,598 thousand | +4.8% | |
| 128,032 thousand | +4.5% | |
| 127,328 thousand | +4.5% | |
| 126,964 thousand | +4.9% | |
| 126,471 thousand | +5.8% | |
| 125,621 thousand | +6.5% | |
| 124,901 thousand | +9.7% | |
| 124,439 thousand | +11.2% | |
| 124,051 thousand | −4.6% | |
| 123,391 thousand | −6.0% | |
| 122,810 thousand | −6.3% | |
| 122,481 thousand | −6.4% | |
| 122,740 thousand | −6.1% | |
| 122,517 thousand | −6.1% | |
| 121,899 thousand | −6.5% | |
| 121,035 thousand | −7.0% | |
| 119,517 thousand | −8.0% | |
| 117,983 thousand | −9.1% | |
| 113,831 thousand | −12.2% | |
| 111,903 thousand | −13.7% | |
| 129,992 thousand | +0.5% | |
| 131,256 thousand | +1.6% | |
| 131,032 thousand | +1.5% | |
| 130,814 thousand | +1.5% | |
| 130,644 thousand | +1.5% | |
| 130,457 thousand | +1.4% | |
| 130,314 thousand | +1.4% | |
| 130,131 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 129,893 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 129,815 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 129,624 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 129,599 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 129,340 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 129,147 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 129,100 thousand | +1.4% | |
| 128,909 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 128,756 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 128,666 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 128,535 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 128,505 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 128,296 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 128,282 thousand | +1.4% | |
| 128,119 thousand | +1.4% | |
| 127,891 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 127,796 thousand | +1.4% | |
| 127,612 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 127,342 thousand | +1.2% | |
| 127,237 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 127,141 thousand | +1.4% | |
| 126,975 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 126,867 thousand | +1.3% | |
| 126,799 thousand | +1.5% | |
| 126,734 thousand | +1.6% | |
| 126,554 thousand | +1.7% | |
| 126,398 thousand | +1.7% | |
| 126,223 thousand | +1.7% | |
| 126,047 thousand | +1.7% | |
| 125,959 thousand | +1.8% | |
| 125,807 thousand | +1.9% | |
| 125,619 thousand | +1.8% | |
| 125,402 thousand | +1.8% | |
| 125,306 thousand | +1.9% |
How does it compare with the industries on the jobs by industry page?Ranked by the change over a year
| Series | Month | Value | Change over a year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 23,959 thousand | +2.2% | 1 | |
| Private education and health | 28,005 thousand | +1.9% | 2 | |
| Utilities | 612 thousand | +1.7% | 3 | |
| Construction | 8,364 thousand | +1.3% | 4 | |
| Durable goods | 7,898 thousand | +1.1% | 5 | |
| Professional, scientific, technical | 10,844 thousand | +0.8% | 6 | |
| Accommodation and food services | 14,310 thousand | +0.7% | 7 | |
| Goods-producing | 21,623 thousand | +0.7% | 7 | |
| Other services | 6,039 thousand | +0.6% | 9 | |
| Professional and business services | 22,482 thousand | +0.6% | 9 | |
| Administrative, support, waste | 9,019 thousand | +0.5% | 11 | |
| Private service-providing | 114,094 thousand | +0.5% | 11 | |
| Total private | 135,717 thousand | +0.5% | 11 | |
| Leisure and hospitality | 16,969 thousand | +0.4% | 14 | |
| Wholesale trade | 6,078 thousand | +0.4% | 14 | |
| Local government | 15,173 thousand | +0.3% | 16 | |
| Manufacturing | 12,652 thousand | +0.3% | 16 | |
| Mining and logging | 607 thousand | +0.3% | 16 | |
| Service-providing (this page) | 137,421 thousand | +0.3% | 16 | |
| Total nonfarm | 159,044 thousand | +0.3% | 16 | |
| Retail trade | 15,480 thousand | +0.2% | 21 | |
| Trade, transportation, utilities | 28,778 thousand | +0.2% | 21 | |
| Mining, oil and gas extraction | 567 thousand | +0.1% | 23 | |
| Private education | 4,046 thousand | −0.1% | 24 | |
| Transportation and warehousing | 6,609 thousand | −0.1% | 24 | |
| Management of companies | 2,620 thousand | −0.3% | 26 | |
| State government | 5,472 thousand | −0.5% | 27 | |
| Real estate, rental, leasing | 2,438 thousand | −0.6% | 28 | |
| Government | 23,327 thousand | −0.9% | 29 | |
| Nondurable goods | 4,754 thousand | −0.9% | 29 | |
| Financial activities | 9,082 thousand | −1.2% | 31 | |
| Finance and insurance | 6,645 thousand | −1.4% | 32 | |
| Arts, entertainment, recreation | 2,659 thousand | −1.6% | 33 | |
| Information | 2,739 thousand | −4.2% | 34 | |
| Federal government | 2,682 thousand | −8.0% | 35 |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite
What this number cannot tell you
- BLS counts jobs, not people: a person with two jobs on two payrolls is counted twice. Farm jobs, the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers and members of the military are not counted.
- The count comes from a survey of employers, so each month's value carries sampling error. BLS revises each month twice in the two months after it is first published, and each February it benchmarks the series to a full count of jobs from unemployment insurance tax records and revises earlier values, so past values on this page can change.
- BLS publishes this series from 1939.
- JOLTS has no line for exactly this group of industries, so no job openings, hires, quits or layoffs are shown beside the count of jobs.
- The changes, the ranks and the highest and lowest values are ours, worked out from the values BLS publishes; a change is in percent.
Observed . Checked .
How to cite this
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, Service-providing, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How many jobs are there in service-providing industries?", https://500metrics.com/jobs-by-industry/service-providing.
Can the data be downloaded?jobs-by-industry-service-providing.csv
Download the full history as CSV: 1,053 rows, to , 19,377 bytes.
Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.
Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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